Square Enix Sees Record Sales and Earnings

Last year, Square Enix's release schedule had that magical trio of numbered Final Fantasy, numbered Dragon Quest, and numbered Kingdom Hearts (well, it did have numbers in the name!). The result? How about some record sales and profits for the Japanese RPG giant?

As revealed in an earnings briefing today, Square Enix saw in the previous fiscal year its highest sales and earnings since the 2003 Square and Enix merger. The company's games division (Square Enix also has publishing, amusement, merchandising and mobile phone content divisions) saw a 128.4% increase in sales from last year to 109,949 million yen. Operating income was up 254% over last year to 23,814 million yen.

One of the big reasons for the differences is that Dragon Quest IX, which has sold over four million copies in Japan alone, was originally supposed to have come out in the previous fiscal term, but ended up slipping. This left the 2009 to 2010 fiscal year packed with multimillion selling hits.

Final Fantasy XIII was the top seller for the company, with 5.55 million units, split 1.85 million for Japan, 1.79 million for North America, 1.77 million for Europe and 0.14 million for Asia/other.

Dragon Quest IX, although released exclusively in Japan, was the second highest title, with 4.26 million units. It beat the multiplatform Batman Arkham Asylum, which sold 3.24 million units worldwide, 1.89 million in North America, 1.39 million in Europe and a measly 0.03 million in Japan.

Also selling above the million mark over the year were Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days at 1.49 million and Dragon Quest VI at 1.29 million. DQVI was Japan-only.

Japan also saw Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep on PSP. This sold 0.76 million units following its January 2010 release. International releases are planned for early September.

Total software units sold for the year reached 26.66 million worldwide. This is about 10 million higher than the previous record, 2007's 16.93 million units.

Not surprisingly, Square Enix expects sales to calm just a bit. For the current year, the company expects 24 million software units, with North America and Europe accounting for a greater percentage compared to last year.